Osa
Feminine · “Old Norse ass”
Osa is given to both — 683 girls and 87 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Osa carries a heathen god in it. The Norse element ass, a god of the Aesir, is the same element that sits at the front of Oswald, Osborn and Osmund, which means Anglo-Saxon Christians were baptizing saints with names that named the old gods.
How old is the name Osa?
Osa was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Osa alive today was born around 1913, making them about 112 years old. Fewer than a hundred people named Osa are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
When was the name Osa most popular?
Osa peaked in 1881, reaching #582 nationally. Today it ranks #10107, 9,525 places below that high. See the whole 1881 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Asa to Osa
The story of Osa
The Germanic peoples built names from a stock of elements, and one of the commonest was the word for a god. In Old English it appears as os and gives Oswald, god-power, Oswin, god-friend, Osmund, god-protection, and Oswy; in Old Norse it is ass and gives Asa, Aslaug, Asbjorn and Asgeir. What is remarkable is what happened at the conversion. The names did not go: Oswald of Northumbria, killed in 642, was made a saint, and his cult spread across northern Europe, so a name built on a heathen divine element was carried by monks, bishops and churches for the next thousand years. Osa reached the American records with Scandinavian immigration and belongs to the first years of the data.
Meaning
Old Norse ass, a god
Osa is a Scandinavian name, the Swedish and Norwegian Asa, from Old Norse ass, one of the Aesir gods, and it is also used as a short form of longer names in that family. The same element appears in Old English as os, at the start of Oswald, Oswin, Osborn and Osmund. The American peak is 1881.
How the name formed
- Asa
- Osa
Related forms: Asa · Asa · Asa
Pronouncing Osa
OH-suh
Two syllables, stress on the first. The Scandinavian Asa is said with a long open o and a fuller final vowel.
Nicknames for Osa
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 189221 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #582reached in 1881
- Change vs 2024
- +50.0%9 in 2025, from 6
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Osa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Asa in Swedish — same name
- Asa in Norwegian — same name
- Asa in Icelandic — same name
Osas among us
Fewer than a hundred people named Osa are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
About 1 girl in 178,585 born in 2025 was named Osa
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Osa sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Osa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Osa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three letters and two syllables, as short as a name gets.
- The Norse element behind it is documented and shared with several English names.
- It is a current ordinary name across Scandinavia.
- Its 1881 peak sits at the very start of the records.
- It will be heard as Rosa, Osha or Asia.
- The Scandinavian spelling uses a letter English does not have.
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What they receive
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Osa
Feminine · #10107 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Osas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. Fewer than a hundred people named Osa are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
- How popular is the name Osa in 2025?
- Osa ranks #10107 among US girl names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Osa?
- About 1 in every 178,585 US girls born in 2025 was named Osa — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Osa with classmates?
- Osa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Osa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Berta#10107 · Jettie#10107 · Maye#10107 · Fidelia#10107 · Alysa#10107 · Su#10107 · Arletta#10107 · Willie#10107
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Osa? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Osa and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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